I don't know if this has been posted, but I couldn't find it when I looked. I live in the bay area and have been interested in taking Sambo lessons somewhere but can't find them anywhere around here. Can anyone help?

As with KM I'm sure it is better to practice in person but are there any good reference books or websites anyone can recommend?

Good question Flea, also a somewhat difficult one to answer. The 'basic' answer is this: sambo can be divided into two categories, sport sambo and combat sambo. Often they are not mutually exclusive, as soldier's are often trained in both. Sambo was developed by the former USSR for use by the military. It is a blend of (primarily) Judo, wrestling, and native Russian martial arts.

Systema, more than likely it primarily comes out of the experiments at the Dinamo training facility in the 1920's. During this time numerous martial arts (including native Russian ones) were studied, as well as human biomechanics and combat psychology. If this is the case (it's still debated) then Systema and Sambo were developed at the same time, and the originator of each would primarily be V.A. Spiridonov.

From there Systema branched into the Ryabko style, and the Kadochnikov style. The Kadochnikov style is not really taught in N.America (as far as I know). As I said, this is all debatable, but from my research, it seems the most plausible of all the 'origin' stories.

So, to answer your question, one may say that Sambo is the quicker to learn art, and the one in more general usage. Systema is more subtle, applying more advanced psychology and biomechanics.

Hope that helps.

--Chris

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"Seek not to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought."--Basho

Sambo (I am trained in an earlier version of it, still considered a Russian style of Judo), is more or less Judo throws, with influence from Greco-Roman wrestling and native folk wrestling from within USSR such as Kurash, Pahlavani, Koshti, Guresh, and other various folk style wrestling.

Systema, from my understanding, is just an attempt by one of the Sambo creators to create a style of the injured, weaker or disabled which resembles Aiki-jujutsu, seeing as how most of the 'building blocks' of Sambo requires a practitioner of good physical strength and health.

However, the part of Systema is just hear-say from my master who's master was heavily involved with the USSR during his 'Judo' training.

~Donnie out

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I got two fists.. Don't make me use my head as well!